Articles & Multimedia
Showing 41-59 of 59 Publications
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When ‘Killer Robots’ Declare War
This week, nations from around the world will debate the future of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), or so-called “killer robots,” at the United Nations Convention on C...
By Alexander Velez-Green
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Statement to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons on Technical Issues
CNAS is an independent non-profit research institution that has had an ongoing project on the legal, ethical, moral, and policy implications of autonomous weapons. I would lik...
By Kelley Sayler
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Presentation at the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
Autonomy is playing a bigger role in many industries and aspects of our lives, from self-driving cars to autonomous Twitter bots. Similarly, autonomy will be used increasingly...
By Paul Scharre
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Counter-Swarm: A Guide to Defeating Robotic Swarms
Swarming with a large number of low-cost autonomous systems can be useful for a wide range of applications in warfare, and the U.S. military should move to harness the advanta...
By Paul Scharre
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Commanding the Swarm
Today’s uninhabited vehicles are largely tele-operated, with a person piloting or driving the vehicle remotely, but tomorrow’s won’t be. They will incorporate increasing auton...
By Paul Scharre
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Commentary: The Imperative of Long-Range Strike
Later this spring, the Department of Defense will unveil its decision for the new long-range strike bomber. The program, designed to supplement aging bomber inventories and re...
By Kelley Sayler & Paul Scharre
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Unleash the Swarm: The Future of Warfare
Could swarms of low-cost expendable systems change how militaries fight? Last November, Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall asked the Defense Science Board to examine a r...
By Paul Scharre
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The Foreign Policy Essay: The South Korean Sentry—A “Killer Robot” to Prevent War
A new sentry guards the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. It is South Korea’s SGR-A1, a robot with the ability to autonomously identify and destroy targets....
By Alexander Velez-Green
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A World of Proliferated Drones
Paul Scharre, who is the Director of the 20YY Warfare Initiative at CNAS, contemplates how the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles among states and non-state actors is i...
By Paul Scharre
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Robots at War and the Quality of Quantity
The U.S. Department of Defense has launched the search for a “third offset strategy,” an approach to sustain U.S. military technological superiority against potential adversar...
By Paul Scharre
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Release the drones
This week, the Obama administration announced a new policy loosening export restrictions for military and commercial drones. This policy shift represents a responsible first s...
By Kelley Sayler, Paul Scharre & Van Jackson
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Between a Roomba and a Terminator: What is Autonomy?
Department of Defense leaders have stated that robotics and autonomous systems will be a key part of a new “offset strategy” to sustain American military d...
By Paul Scharre
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UNIDIR White Paper on Meaningful Human Control
The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) recently published a second report centered around the weaponization of increasingly autonomous technologies. A...
By Matthew Seeley
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Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW): Nov. 13-14 Meetings and Beyond
The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) met for the second time this year on November 13th and 14th in Geneva to discuss lethal autonomous weapons ...
By Matthew Seeley & Paul Scharre
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Paul Scharre and Michael Horowitz on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
hen the robots start thinking for themselves in the movies or on TV, it’s never a good sign for the humans. Whether the setting is Earth or Caprica, letting robots think and g...
By Michael Horowitz & Paul Scharre
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University of Birmingham Report on Drones
The University of Birmingham Policy Commission recently released a report entitled “The Security Impact of Drones: Challenges and Opportunities for the UK.” The policy commis...
By Matthew Seeley
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UN Side Meeting in New York on Autonomous Weapons
As part of meetings held by the United Nations General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament & International Security, the Republic of Croatia sponsored a side event tit...
By Michael Horowitz
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Autonomy, “Killer Robots,” and Human Control in the Use of Force – Part II
In a recent post , I covered how autonomy is currently used in weapons and what is different about potential future autonomous weapons that would select and engage targets on ...
By Paul Scharre
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Autonomy, “Killer Robots,” and Human Control in the Use of Force – Part I
In May of this year, the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons(CCW) held the first multilateral discussions on autonomous weapons or, as activists like to ...
By Paul Scharre